


picture perfect

by einsKai



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Real World, Cats, Family, Fluff, Gen, Gifts, No Romance, like none at all, no one has romance in this AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 20:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14316489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/einsKai/pseuds/einsKai
Summary: “This was your idea?”“Yes!”“I love it.”





	picture perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Juzo!!
> 
> I love Juzo with all of my heart and that's why I made him happy in this!
> 
> He deserves happiness.

The sky was clearing up when Sakakura Juzo unlocked his car.  
There had been rain in the morning and he had been worried that it would continue until the evening, but now the clear blue sky was reflecting in the puddles and the air carried the scent of freshness. It smelled young, Juzo thought.

The boxer started the car and began driving towards his apartment. A look at the clock told him that he’d easily have time to go home and shower before he’d have to go outside again.

At home he quickly walked up the stairs to the apartment he bought a few years back and now called his home. He smiled, when one of his three cats came up to him and greeted him with a soft mew. Not only his home anymore.

He undressed, his sweaty tanktop he had given his lessons in discarded to the laundry box.

The water in the shower was warm and he relaxed a little.  
One of his students had finally gotten something right today. He had been struggling with it for a few weeks now. Juzo was very proud, because the smaller, almost feminine boy had been very anxious about every little mistake he made and his smile when Juzo nodded after he got it right had been so very happy that Juzo almost felt like he didn’t need any compensation but that smile for his coaching.

Juzo worked as a boxing instructor at a local boxing club. He still had occasional matches and when the club was hosting tournaments he also worked as a referee. He had had a boxing career that started in high school and his name was still a big one in the boxing world, but he wasn’t aiming for titles anymore.

Juzo had found something more precious to him.

The man stepped out of the shower and dried off. He looked at the clothes he had chosen for this day, a white dress shirt and wide, black pants. The white dress shirt was quickly exchanged with a more comfortable white t-shirt. He really didn’t need to feel constricted today and there wasn’t any formal event he was going to, so he could as well be casual about his clothing.

The car ride was a quiet one; he didn’t even listen to any music or turned the radio on. It was only a short ride too.

When he arrived he parked the car and got out. The walk to the nursery school was a short one.

The early afternoon sun warmed his skin and he felt a smile tugging at his lips.

 

 

“Papa!”, a voice called as soon as he entered the building and he barely managed to get down on a knee to catch the whirlwind of purple and blue that crashed into him.

He picked his daughter up and hugged her in the air. Her tiny arms wrapped around his neck.

Rei was wearing her purple hair in pigtails today. A butterfly hairclip Yukizome bought for her was keeping stray strands of hair from falling into her eyes. This morning she had decided to wear a light blue t-shirt with her favourite dungarees. Rei smiled at him, a toothy smile. He could see her missing tooth that she lost a few weeks ago and the new, first adult tooth growing in the gap between her teeth.

“Happy birthday, Papa!”, she chirped and hugged his neck harder.

“Thanks sweetie”, Juzo answered and hugged her back, “Where are your bag and jacket? We can get it and then go home.”

“Okay! And then we can have Papa’s birthday party.”

“You’re right”, he said and let her down again.

As soon as her feet touched the ground the girl ran towards the room she spent her days in again. A nursery teacher he had never seen before nodded and greeted him as he followed her, though a little more slowly than she did. Well, even the staff that he had never talked to probably knew him as the former boxing pro single dad, Juzo thought.

A teacher he actually knew stood next to Rei when he reached the end of the hallway.

“Hello Sakakura-san”, they said and smiled, “Rei-chan is very energetic today. Did something good happen?”

Juzo rubbed his neck sheepishly, “It’s my birthday today, so maybe it’s that.”

“Oh, congratulations”, the teacher said, “I wish you two a wonderful day then.”

Rei had already gotten her bag with her small lunch box and her jacket and was bouncing up and down next to the adults.

“Do I have to wear my jacket?”, she asked and Juzo shook his head.

“It’s warm outside. Let me take it.”

Juzo took his daughter's jacket and then offered her his hand. She gladly took it, her small and smooth hand in his big one. He had to duck a little to take her hand, but Rei always loved to hold his hand and if it made her happy then he’d do anything, if he was honest.

Together they walked back to the car and got in, Rei next to him in her child seat, high and mighty like the princess she was.

On the ride home Rei chattered about her day. She had played with some of her friends, but her favourite part of the day had been the drawing.

Rei loved drawing and she drew as if her life depended on it. It had been like this ever since she had been able to hold a pen and while she was far from being a professional, she was a five year old after all, and Juzo supported her passion and hoped that she would continue loving art and improve at it with practice, just like he had done with boxing.

Today they had to draw animals and of course Rei had drawn her three muses, their cats.  
Excitedly she showed Juzo the picture she had drawn.

They were standing at a red traffic light, so he used the moment to take a look at the picture.

It was cute, he thought as he took it in.

The three objects of her drawing were standing in front of a white background, all in the same awkward position she always chose when drawing the cats.  
But nonetheless he could clearly distinguish the three cats, Cream’s light brown fur, Candy’s bright, almost orange, she even got the pattern on the tabby cat, Cookie, right.

“They really look like Candy, Cookie and Cream”, he said, “Let’s show them the picture when we get home. And then we can put it on the fridge.”

“Yes!”, Rei beamed, “and then we sing!”

Juzo was a little distracted by some bikers next to the car, so he just absentmindedly asked: “Why do we sing?”

“Because it’s Papa’s birthday”, Rei said and puffed her cheeks out, “silly Papa, forgot about his own birthday.”

“That’s what you meant”, Juzo said and drove into their street, “Of course we’ll sing.”

He parked the car near their apartment and the two of them got out and walked the last few metres to their home.

As soon as Juzo opened the door Rei ran past him and looked for the cats, to show them her picture.

Juzo dropped Rei’s bag on a chair in their hallway that they mostly used for putting bags or jackets there.

“Rei!”, he called, “Do you want to eat now and have cake later or do you want to have cake now and eat later?”

His daughter poked her head out of the living room, where she apparently had found at least one of the cats. “Are uncle Kyousuke and aunt Chisa coming later?”

“No”, he said, “They’re inviting us out for lunch tomorrow. Today it’s just us.”

“Yay!”, Rei said, “If it’s only Papa and me I want to eat cake later.”

He nodded and walked into the kitchen, to begin heating the food he had prepared the day before.

 

 

They ate in peace, Rei chattering about something one of her friends told her and Juzo listened, nodding from time to time, to show her that he was listening – which he was, of course, even though he didn’t really know what she was talking about.

They had planned to watch a movie later, just a calm father-daughter afternoon.

When he got the cake out in the middle of the movie and blew out the candles Rei clapped and sang for him, a little out of tune, but he couldn’t have asked for anything more.

 

 

“Wait!”, Rei stopped him from turning on the movie they had paused again, “I haven’t given you your present yet.”

Juzo turned around, surprised, “You have a present for me?”

“Of course”, she said, as if it was the most normal, natural thing in the world, “It’s your birthday, so you’re getting a present.”

Rei walked towards her room, “Wait a minute”, she called over her shoulder and when she came back she was holding a neatly wrapped package in her hands.

“Thank you”, Juzo said when she gave him the gift. The wrapping really was skillfully done and Juzo recognized the wrapping paper used as Yukizome’s.

“Did Yukizome help you with this?”, he asked and Rei nodded enthusiastically.

She and Yukizome had a good relationship, which Juzo was glad about. His, Munakata and Yukizome’s group of three was still good friends, just like they had been in high school and since he and Yukizome had both gotten over their romantic interest in their third friend, their relationship had improved significantly. Both his friends loved his daughter dearly and Yukizome often took care of her, when Juzo had work in the evening. Munakata didn’t, but he had often said that he would take care of Rei, if he didn’t have to travel so much, but work didn’t let him off the hook.

“Aunt Chisa helped with the present, but it was my idea!”, Rei said while he was unwrapping the present.

Juzo stared at what he was holding, now that he had removed the wrapping.

It was a wooden picture frame and the polished wood had a nice, honey-like colour.

But the best part of the present wasn’t the frame, but the picture inside.

It was a photo Yukizome had taken of them together with their cats. He and his daughter were sitting on their couch in the living room, Cookie asleep in Rei’s lap and Cream sitting on Juzo’s shoulder, tail curled around his head, while Candy was climbing the bookshelf next to the couch. The picture was peaceful, both he and Rei were smiling happily, Rei drawing something on her sketchbook, a crayon tucked behind her ear and another one in her hand, he himself was reading. They hadn’t noticed Yukizome had been there until she had taken the photo. Sometimes Juzo regretted giving her a key to their apartment, but this moment hadn’t been one of those, because the photo really was beautiful.

“This was your idea?”, he asked, flabbergasted.

“Yes!”, Rei said, “Aunt Chisa helped a little! But I picked out the picture and the frame too.”

“I love it”, he said and scooped his daughter up in his arms, “Thank you Rei.”

Her tiny legs wrapped around his torso as he hugged her close to his chest. She was giggling and hugged him back.

“Happy birthday Papa”, Rei said through giggles.

“Yes”, he said, trying to suppress the urge to cry from the overwhelming happiness he felt, “I love you too.”

“Yay!”, his daughter said, “I’m so happy you became my Papa!”

“I’m glad too”, he nodded and hugged her closer, before letting her down again, “So, should we continue the movie?”

“Oh!”, Rei said and laughed, “I almost forgot.”

Juzo laughed too and sat down on the couch again. He turned the movie on and they continued to watch it, while eating their slices of cake.

One of their cats, Candy, came into the room and looked at the scene. He felt like he was judging them, but he still decided to walk towards them and curl up in the space between them to sleep.

It was peaceful, almost like the picture Rei had given to him for his birthday, Juzo thought, if everything in his life stayed just the same, just like this moment… Then he wouldn’t have anything to complain about.

 

 

Later at night Juzo put his daughter to sleep, tugged her in and she smiled at him with her missing tooth and even later Juzo went to sleep himself, thinking that he couldn’t be happier.

This had been a perfect birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I decided to make this an AU with no romance at all (Kyousuke and Chisa aren't dating either) because I wanted to focus on Juzo's adopted daughter, Rei.
> 
> Maybe I'll write more about them at a later point :DD
> 
> Thank you again!
> 
> \- Kai


End file.
